The Mundari tribe of South Sudan that value their cattle than themselves

The Mundari Tribe of South Sudan that value their cattle more than themselves The Mundari, like other Nilotic tribes, are very cattle-oriented. Cattle serves as food, a form of currency and a mark of status. They live in symbiosis with their cattle and nothing is more important for them than their cows. Offer money to a Mundari man and he will tell you to bring a cow instead. Mundari men have this odd, yet interesting culture where they bath their hair in cow urine, giving it a yellow-orange color. The Mundari tribe is a small ethnic group from the Republic of South Sudan, numbering between 70,000 and 100,000 people. South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, gained independence from the Republic of the Sudan in 2011 after a 21-year civil war. The Mundari are one of the ethnic groups indigenous to the Nile valley Nilotic. Their main homeland is approximately 75 kilometres north of Juba, the capital of South Sudan. Their lands are bounded on the east by the White Nile, an important source of water for livestock. The Mundari follow a mixture of Christian and animistic beliefs, with symbols playing an important role. As for many people in the area, the Mundari culture is transmitted orally in songs, dance, poems and other body expressions that reflect good, generosity, and other core values. Ritual scarification is an important part of cultural identity. Men must undergo initiation rites where initiates live together in nature and spend three months with a village elder, away from the community. The rite of passage to adulthood is completed with V scars cut into the forehead Friendly and peaceful by nature, the Mundari are nevertheless armed, like most tribes in South Sudan. Decades of war have made guns ubiquitous and easy to obtain. That said, the Mundari seem to have no interest in warfare as weapons are used to protect their herds from cattle rustlers. Mundari men take up wrestling as a serious hobby from a very young age. They regularly organise wrestling competitions, and the best proponents keep going until they are too old to compete. CATTLE CULTURE The Mundari are agro-pastoralists with an economy centered on agriculture and herding livestock. Their famous, massive-horned Ankole-Watusi cattle are considered the ‘kings of the cattle’. They are part of the Sanga family of African cattle breeds which originated over 2,000 years ago from a combination of the Egyptian longhorn cattle of Africa and Zebu longhorns originally from India. Sanga cattle spread throughout eastern Africa, and many different breeds developed. Some studies suggest that the big horns of the Ankole-Watusi are an adaptation to hot climates, facilitating the dispersal of excess body heat. While elders from 38 years old and maternal relatives settle in villages with beautiful huts, the young men and women, teens and children go to cattle camps to tend livestock, moving according to the rhythm of rainy seasons. Sometimes the herds can number as many as 850 animals, and finding enough forage for such large herds in arid areas necessitates constant movement. At the end of the dry season, camps are pitched around the Nile, the only place still sufficiently green to accommodate the appetite of their livestock. In Mundari culture, like for many tribes of the region, cattle play an important role in religion, birth and marriage. They are symbols of wealth and power. Every life event includes a reference to cows, the lives of which can be sometimes deemed more important than those of humans. Traditionally, Ankole-Watusi cows are considered sacred, with an owner’s wealth counted in live animals. Unfortunately, cattle are also the main source of conflict. Clashes seldom arise over common resources such as land but rather over animals and their ownership. Before the civil war, each Ankole-Watusi was worth as much as $500. This was the reference value used to calculate the bride price paid to a woman’s family. Following the end of the war, the number of middle-aged men in search of wives dramatically increased. This had a direct impact as it doubled the bride price from an average of 20 cows per bride to 40. CATTLE CAMPS In a cattle camp, everyone plays their role. The men lead the cows into the fields during the day and regroup them in the camp before sunset. The women clean and prepare food for everyone. The children clean the ground of the camp every morning by collecting the dung and burning it at sunset. Ashes are then used as a natural antiseptic to protect the skin of the people and cows from insects and the sun. The Mundari also use ash as talcum to massage their cattle twice a day and as toothpaste for themselves Cattle urine is used to wash hands, faces, and teeth and bleach hair. The Mundari also drink it in the belief that cow urine infuses purity. They also combine urine with ashes to polish the magnificent horns of the cattle.